HC gives bail to suspended censor board CEO in bribery case

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has granted bail to the suspended chief executive officer of the censor board, Rakesh Kumar, arrested in August on the charge of taking bribes to clear the films.

Observing that Kumar had made out a prima facie case for bail, Justice Sadhana Jadhav granted him bail yesterday on a personal bond of Rs two lakh with one or more sureties in the same amount.

She also said that Kumar shall not visit any of the offices of Central Board of Film Certification (censor board) including the ones at Mumbai and Chennai, till the investigation is over.

Kumar will have report to the investigating officer in Mumbai on Wednesdays and Fridays starting from October 29 and cooperate with the investigating agency, the judge added.

The CBI had opposed his bail plea saying that he may influence the witnesses if released. Hiten Venegaonkar, the CBI’s lawyer, submitted that the scope of the probe was very wide, and the agency had yet to record statements of several panelists and officers of CBFC at Chennai and Mumbai.

In view of this, it would not be possible to file the chargesheet within the statutory 60-day period which will expire on October 18, he said.

The HC however noted that Kumar was in jail for more than fifty days, and CBI was likely to file the chargesheet in a hurry without full-fledged investigation (if chargesheet is not filed within the stipulated period, bail has to be granted to the accused by default).